Le Bernardin (Midtown) American, French
If you know anything about Le Bernardin, you know that it is famous for its skill with seafood. And in fact, Eric Ripert, the chef and an owner, leads a kitchen that is technically astonishing. But Le Bernardin never rubs your nose in all this craft. By Pete Wells - Feb. 7, 2023
Yoshino (East Village) Japanese, Sushi
Tadashi Yoshida, who achieved wide acclaim at his restaurant Sushi no Yoshino in Nagoya, is probably the first sushi chef of his stature to leave Japan and start fresh in New York. An omakase meal at his 10-seat counter is a virtuoso display of ideas and techniques that are firmly rooted in Japanese tradition. By Pete Wells - Nov. 15, 2022
Jean-Georges (Upper West Side) French
A radical reimagining of the grand style of French dining when it opened in 1997, Jean-Georges can still surprise even in its comfortable middle age. By Pete Wells - April 8, 2014
Four Twenty Five (Midtown) New American
A collaboration between the chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten and Jonathan Benno, Four Twenty Five is a glamorous Midtown restaurant serving seasonal modern American cuisine. By Melissa Clark - Feb. 25, 2025
Bungalow (East Village) Indian
Bungalow, presided over by the famed television chef Vikas Khanna, serves personal and deeply creative spins on regional Indian dishes that defy expectations about what Indian restaurant food ought to be. By Priya Krishna - Aug. 20, 2024
Penny (East Village) American, Seafood
Seafood of one kind or another turns up in almost every item on the menu, handled with unusual sensitivity and clarity. Penny is a little reminiscent of the seafood counters of Barcelona, such as Lluritu and Cal Pep. By Pete Wells - June 11, 2024
Eulalie (TriBeCa) American, French, Southern
Chip Smith and Tina Vaughn’s small, elegant restaurant is blithely clueless about TikTok trends, plating trends, wine trends and just about any other trend you can think of. By Pete Wells - Jan. 16, 2024
Foxface Natural (East Village)
Some people will look askance at the whole fish served on the bone or the kangaroo tartare. Others will be put off by the playlist — Peaches and punk rock, played loud. Those who appreciate its uncompromising outlook, though, may find that Foxface Natural will be one of their favorite restaurants. By Pete Wells - Sept. 19, 2023
Naro (Midtown)
Naro is owned by the group behind Atomix, and is similar to that restaurant in ambition and refinement. The executive chef, Nate Kuester, dives into traditional Korean foods, starting with favorites like bibimbap and seafood jeon and reaching back to recipes that predate the 20th century, in ways that make them seem full of unexplored potential. By Pete Wells - May 2, 2023
Tatiana (Upper West Side) American, Caribbean, Creole
Kwame Onwuachi, the chef and an owner, has drawn many of the dishes from episodes in his own, 33-year-old life. He’s able to connect his autobiography with great themes of Black life in the United States, and in doing so steps right into the cultural moment. By Pete Wells - March 14, 2023
Torrisi Bar & Restaurant (NoLIta) Italian
Torrisi Bar & Restaurant can resemble a film set for the hottest restaurant in New York in a movie made by non-New Yorkers. But the cooking is some of the most evocative and subtle of Rich Torrisi’s career. The restaurant’s great and somewhat covert theme is immigration in Lower Manhattan, from Little Italy to Chinatown to the Lower East Side. By Pete Wells - Feb. 28, 2023
Koloman (NoMad) Austrian, French
Markus Glocker’s French and Austrian cuisine is painstakingly formal, but focused on pleasure; the service is several degrees more casual, but nobody seems to mind much. By Pete Wells - Nov. 29, 2022
Claud (East Village) French
Very little about the appearance of Claud tells you that you are in one of the most impressive new restaurants that the East Village has seen in several years. The owners met while working at Momofuku Ko, and seem to have absorbed many of its principles, including the understanding that real sophistication lies in distilling ideas to their essentials. By Pete Wells - Nov. 1, 2022
Le Rock (Midtown) French
Riad Nasr and Lee Hanson expand to Rockefeller Center, keeping the culinary spirit — brawny but precise — that makes their downtown restaurant, Frenchette, so appealing. Le Rock cherry-picks elements from the bistros, brasseries and grand cafes of France. By Pete Wells - Oct. 17, 2022
Kono (Chinatown) Japanese
Behind a curtain in a hidden Chinatown passageway is a dramatic, refined dining counter. At the center of it all is an open charcoal grill tended by Atsushi Kono, the city’s most accomplished yakitori chef and, by extension, one of its greatest chicken cooks. By Pete Wells - July 25, 2022
Bronx (1)
